Woman army officer court martialled for making false charges

A woman army officer has been court martialled for levelling false allegations against her three superior men officers, a decision that could lead to her sacking.

Captain Poonam Kaur of the Army Service Corps was court martialled by an Army court in Patiala after proceedings that went on for about five months, officials said in New Delhi on Saturday.

If confirmed by the competent authority of the army, Captain Kaur could be sacked.

She is the second woman officer of the army to be court-martialled after Major Dimple Singla, a judge advocate general branch officer, who was tried on charges of corruption in 2006 in Chandigarh.

In July last year, Captain Kaur had accused her three superior men officers, including the Commanding Officer of her battalion located at Kalka Cantonment near Chandigarh, of mentally and physically torturing her.

She had also alleged that the three officers had kept her under house arrest.

The army had ordered the Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the allegations in August last year and the court martial proceedings in the case had begun five months ago in Patiala.